Dracut school chief not chirping happily over fake tweets

DRACUT -- A Dracut High student who created a parody social-media account using the name of Superintendent of Schools Steven Stone may soon be hearing from the school district's chief himself.

"We are looking into this, and we'll be responding as necessary," Stone said Thursday afternoon. "I wouldn't want to characterize what my response may be because I haven't had the opportunity to fully investigate it at this point."

Stone said he doesn't have a Twitter account, and has no intention of creating one.

"I haven't had the opportunity to view any of those messages, and frankly I need to learn how to get access to them," Stone said. "Twitter is not part of my normal universe."

The unidentified student created the satirical account using Stone's official headshot and the Twitter handle, @stevenstoneDHS. The student began tweeting messages on Monday aimed at Stone's apparent newfound reputation as a superintendent who is very stingy about awarding snow days off from school.

Next to Stone's photo atop the homepage of the Twitter account, the creator posted, "(Parody: Not affiliated with the real Steven Stone in ANY WAY.)"

"Learning is more important than losing your life in a bus crash... I've never heard the term 'snow day,' " the pretend Stone informs the account's followers, who numbered 90 on Thursday.

"The amount of snow days we are going to have will equal the amount of hair I have #NONE," states another tweet, referencing the superintendent's baldness.

"Dracut High does have a drug problem, and we are planning to solve this by doing absolutely nothing";

"Good thing it's not that cold, because then we would have to put the heat on";

and "I tried a school lunch the other day, but it crawled off my plate."

In its official user policy, Twitter makes a legal distinction between "impersonation," which is considered an illegal activity intended to mislead followers into thinking the account-holder is actually the person portrayed, and "parody" accounts, which are legally permitted and protected under the First Amendment.

Also in its user guidelines, however, Twitter advises account creators not to use the exact name of the person being parodied in their account handle. "NotStevenStone," or "FakeSteveStone" would be acceptable alternatives, the social networking site advises. By this rule, it would seem the @stevenstoneDHS account-holder has violated Twitter's user policy by using his actual name, followed by "DHS," Stone noted on Thursday.

"Literally, right after you called me about this, I scanned Twitter's user policy briefly, and it would seem that (a violation of Twitter's user policy) may be the case," said Stone. "I'm attending to the business of the school district now, and I'll be able to turn my attention to this a bit more later."

Parody Twitter accounts skewering celebrities and other public officials -- including school principals and superintendents -- have become increasingly commonplace as the social-networking site's popularity exploded since 2011.

In Lincoln, Neb., last February, after a high school student opened a Twitter account with Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel's name and picture on it, using the Twitter handle "Fake Steve Joel," that attracted nearly 200 followers, Joel met with the student and persuaded him to close the account, the Journal Star of Lincoln reported.

Joel (who, like Stone, does not have a Twitter account) told the newspaper he might have let his own name being used on Twitter go, except the tweets were off-color, "all nasty, gross, disgusting stuff," the superintendent said.

In a meeting with Joel, the student who created the fake Twitter account was apologetic, expressed regret and canceled the account, the newspaper reported.

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